China to Promote Land Consolidation in Nine Agricultural Zones

China will spend about 1.7 trillion yuan(247 billion U.S. dollars) to increase the quality of arable land and to promote urbanization. The country will divide its land into nine zones for land consolidation over the 13th Five-year Plan period (2016-2020), according to a plan released Wednesday [15 February 2017]…Full Article: ECNS.cn Feb 2017

Key Point

From 2016 to 2020, according to a Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) official, land consolidation will increase China’s food output by 40 million MTs [China currently has an annual grain shortfall of ~20 million MTs] and increase farmers’ annual income by CNY 750 [~US$100].

ChinaAg Comments

By 2020, China hopes to have at least 124.33 million hectares of arable land. This would include a mixture of 103.1 million ha of permanent farmland and 53.3 million ha of ‘high-quality’ farmland. Also at this time (2020), according to China’s Minister of Agriculture, the country’s demand for grains is expected to reach 700 million MTs. China’s wheat production is expected to reach 131.9 million MTs on a cultivation area totaling 24.02 million hectares. The country’s total wheat consumption is also expected to reach 126.3 million MTs.

In 2016, China’s grain output decreased to 616 million MTs. From 2015 to 2016, China’s grain cultivation declined by 315,000 ha while its overall yield dropped by 30.7 kg per ha (0.03 MT per ha). China reportedly has an annual grain consumption shortfall of 20 million MTs.

In December 2016, China’s Ministry of Agriculture announced they were considering establishing agricultural function zones in northeastern China (i.e. Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, and Inner Mongolia) for soybeans, Xinjiang Region for cotton, Yangtze River basin for rapeseed/canola, well as Guangxi Region and Yunnan Province for sugarcane.

In April 2016, China’s State Administration of Grain noted that country has an annual grains shortfall of 9.9 million MTs.

In 2015, China had 133.3 million of arable land. China has a stated policy of having at least 120 million ha of arable land (~106 million ha must be grains).

From 2011 to 2015, according to China’s Ministry of Land and Resources, 26.87 million hectares of high-standard cropland was developed and added to the country’s agriculture sector. An additional 26.67 million ha is hoped to be added by 2020. In China, high-standard cropland (aka ‘high-quality’ farmland) is defined by being a largescale contiguous area of fertile farmland with access to modern facilities and tools.

In 2012, China’s Ministry of Finance planned to invest funds to increase the country’s high-quality farmland by 890,000 ha.